'Ash vs Evil Dead' Recap: 'Booth Three'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK... 

'From now on, protecting Brandy is job one. I may suck balls as a father, but I will NOT let evil take that away...Brandy, I meant. Or my balls.'
- Ash

The more time I’ve been able to ponder upon the season three premiere of Ash vs Evil Dead, the more I’ve come to realize what a true game changer that episode is for the franchise. After all, it gave Ash a level of growth we’ve never seen from his character before and quite frankly, that particular tale set up one heck of a grand plot for season three and all of those elements had me extremely excited to tune in for last night’s episode, ‘Booth Three’.
 
After all, the possibilities of where this series could go are endless and well, once again the show continued to surprise by slowing things down in this episode to flesh out some of the side stories introduced last week. Case in point, Pablo’s little Necronomicon rash, which as it turns out is an indicator that he’s been touched by evil and is in a precarious place when it comes to his soul because of that, and according to a vision from beyond, if he doesn’t embrace his uncle’s teachings, the Evil will conquer him and that’s something that Dalton, the man we met last week and who is also a member of the Knights of Sumeria, completely agrees with.
 
In fact, the show also took the time to expand upon the history of this mysterious sect since we learned that these brave knights have been battling the Evil for centuries and that their job also involves protecting El Jefe so that he can properly battle and defeat the darkness when the time comes. If anything, the introduction of this group is just a wonderful twist when it comes to the Evil Dead mythos because it raises the stakes and shows just how powerful and enduring the Evil has turned out to be over the years, and it is a good thing that Dalton is here, since Ruby’s twisted plans to take over the world kicked into high gear in this episode.
 
Because in this chapter, we saw the birth of her Abomination, a creature that hungers for human flesh and shares Ash’s visage and as it grows and feeds, Ruby is working the ensure that the Williams family line dies so that her disgusting child can become the protector of the Book and in turn, all of Evil and she plans to accomplish that feat by isolating and dividing the Williams clan, starting with Brandy by pretending to be her trusted advisor by posing as the school counselor and she spent a chunk of this episode, putting lies into Brandy’s head about her father so that doubt could take root and well, this is hands down her most diabolical plan to date. 

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​However, it may take more effort than anticipated to rip this family to shreds because Ash is actually taking his responsibilities as a dad seriously. He had Brandy move in with him for the time being and he’s definitely trying to reach out to her in this time of need and he may eventually be successful in his endeavors since poor Brandy is starting to feel like the outsider her father once was and because of that, there is a chance that Ash and Brandy can bond over this since Ash knows how to overcome that kind of pain and I really do hope we get to see him help her with this down the line.
 
Yet, while there were plenty of fascinating moments to be found in this tale, what would this show be without some disgusting and hilarious moments involving Deadites, and thankfully, a little stop at the Ol’ Elk Grove Sperm Bank to ensure that Ash’s many, many, many, many donations haven’t brought forth another Williams baby allowed for those moments to uh…flow, and well, I really wasn’t sure this series could top last year’s morgue scene when it comes to gross out moments but hey, seeing as to how this tale featured a Deadite throwing vials of semen set to the tune of A-ha’s ‘Take on Me’, I’d say the series has outdone itself.
 
But, what was truly impressive about this episode, is that everything we have just discussed managed to happen over the course of a half an hour and that’s just damn impressive. It just goes to show that the writing is top notch this year and I love the fact that we got everything we could ask for out of this episode in a such a short time frame. There was gore, gross out jokes, one liners and character development everywhere you looked and it made for an amazing story through and through and most importantly when it comes to that last element, Ash once again continued to grow in this episode.
 
After all, he really seemed determined in this tale to be a good father, and to find a balance in his life between being the Jefe and a small business owner since he still expects the store to maintain regular business hours, and it’s just a joy to see Ash becoming such a complete character on this show and it was also neat to learn that 30% off at ‘Ashy Slashy’s Hardware and Sex Toy Emporium’ is enough of a hot deal to have someone break Federal Law. Either way, this is shaping up to the best season of the series to date and in all honesty, I’m already having withdrawals when it comes to this magnificent show. Until next time. 

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